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Journey with an ex-seminarian as he fulfill his dreams and search his place in the greater scheme of things on the wings of his dreamRed October: The Glorietta Blast in Makati
The explosion that ripped through the Glorietta 2 Mall in Makati City early Friday afternoon, killing eight people and wounding more than a hundred others was caused by a “hard explosive,” mostly likely TNT or the military ordnance C4, police said. Chief Inspector Raynold Rosero of the Philippine Bomb Data Center said the explosive went off near an escalator and could have been exacerbated by liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) tanks in nearby restaurants. ”We’ve submitted the evidence to the crime lab for chemical analysis and we saw that near the scene of [the] explosion were establishments with LPG,” he said. Rosero said they have yet to determine whether the explosion was set off by a timer or triggered remotely by cellular phone, the signature attack of the Al-Qaeda linked Southeast Asian terror network Jemaah Islamiyah and the local Abu Sayyaf.
He described the explosion as “most likely a deliberate attack.”
Philippine National Police Director General Avelino Razon and Alfonso Reyes, spokesman of Ayala Corp., which operates the Glorieta 2 Mall where the explosion occurred at around 1:40 p.m., said eight people had been killed.
Makati Councilor JunJun Binay, who has been providing regular updates on the situation, said the injury count had climbed to at least 126 — 98 of these needing hospitalization and 28 other victims given first aid at the blast site for minor injuries.
Of the injured, Binay said, three are listed in critical condition and in the Intensive Care Unit of the Makati Medical Center. At least one other victim is undergoing surgery as of this posting.
Binay also said at least one of the dead was a Korean.
A partial list of the injured at the Makati Medical Center (see list at end of article) showed another Korean and a Chinese national were among the injured.
Police investigators at the scene of the explosion identified four of the dead as Liza Marquez, Jose Allan de Jesus, Lester Peregrina and nursing student Janine Marcos. All died of shrapnel injuries. Another fatality was later identified as Maureen De Leon.
At an earlier press briefing carried live by radio and television, Dr. Ernesto Santos of the Makati Medical Center said the four fatalities were “dead on arrival” and at least two of the wounded were “critical.”
Santos said the other casualties all suffered “blast injuries.”
Dr. Anthony Golez, spokesman of the National Disaster Coordinating Council and deputy administrator of the Office of Civil Defense, told INQUIRER.net from the Makati Medical Center that the four died due to “burns and massive internal bleeding.”
“It doesn’t look good,” he said.
Director Geary Barias, chief of the National Capital Region Police Office, said they are not discounting anything,” including the possibility that the explosion was a terrorist attack.
Barias also said there had been no intelligence reports prior to the blast, despite a terror alert issued earlier this month by the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, which is composed of various security institutions like the PNP and the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
“We actually picked up several dead and wounded,” Binay said.
He said the explosion left an eight-meter (26-foot) wide crater on the ground floor and blew a hole through the roof on the second floor.
“From what I have seen it was a significant explosion and that most of the dead and injured were all employees,” he said.
Witnesses said the blast occurred in a section of the mall with clusters of stores selling baby clothes and toys.
The explosion had panicked shoppers running out of the mall as smoke billowed out of the building.
Mall security and police immediately sealed off the area and shepherded people away as ambulances rushed in to evacuate casualties.
People leaving the mall told INQUIRER.net said they felt the whole shopping complex shake as from an earthquake as the “strong” explosion happened in the area between the Glorietta 1 and 2 buildings. They also said they saw windows shatter from the blast.
Witnesses said part of a ceiling collapsed while a concrete wall was blown out.
Two cars and two delivery vans were buried under wooden planks and concrete debris outside the mall.
“It was so powerful,” clothing store clerk Jeric Balendes told AFP on the scene, as rescuers applied first aid on his cuts and bruises.
“The roof just collapsed on us. I could hear my three co-workers screaming. I got out through a small hole. I don’t know if they got out.”
One of the injured, Teresita de La Cruz, 24, recalled thinking: “Are we going to die here?”
“People were panicking and shoving each other, and running in all directions. I was very scared,” she told reporters outside the Makati Medical Center.
De La Cruz, a saleslady for a custom sticker company, said the blast likely originated from somewhere on the second floor near the escalator. “It was just one explosion, but it was loud and strong,” she said.
But the police, citing initial reports, said the blast may have originated from the storeroom of the Luk Yuen restaurant, which was initially tagged as the site of the blast.
Bomb debris carpeted a 200-square-meter (2,100-square-foot) area, he added.
“The ceilings are damaged and may collapse,” Barias said.
The entrance to the mall, the lobby and the activity center were a total wreck, buried under piles of wooden planks, slabs of cement, and parts of the roof.
Rosero said police were clearing the rubble, adding it could be dangerous for investigators to stay inside the mall to gather more evidence.
“There are hazards. There is falling debris inside, there could be a chemical leak [or] high-voltage wires, and the water inside is knee-deep,” he said.
He added that the concrete floor of the area had also been raised by the blast.
Binay said all fatalities appear to have been recovered and search and rescue operations were called off Friday night.
Barias also inspected the nearby SM mall to ensure there will be no other explosions.
The United States and Australia both offered technical help in investigating the blast, and Australian experts were understood to be helping Filipino police on the scene.
Binay said roads to hospitals in the city have been secured as rescue teams continued to scour the area where the explosion occurred, which the councilor described as “severely damaged,” for more possible victims.
“We’ll keep the area evacuated until we know more,” Reyes said.
He also assured the victims and their relatives of assistance from Ayala Corp.
“We will certainly makes sure [that] anyone [who] needs attention will be able to get it,” Reyes said.
Police did not immediately name likely suspects for the attack, but Islamic extremists were blamed for a bomb attack on a bus near the site of Friday’s explosion. That attack killed four people in February 2005.
Militants also firebombed a ferry on Manila Bay the previous year, killing more than 100 people in the country’s worst terrorist attack.
Arroyo’s National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales has previously said the government was not ruling out future attacks on “soft” targets such as shopping malls.
OTWOMD? extends the sincerest sympathy and condolences to the family and friends of the victims of the October 19 blast at Glorietta 2, Makati Philippines at approximately 1:40 pm
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This is very real to me since people I care about where near the event. It makes me so profoundly sad. Thank you for highlighting this with links and photos.
jon
When I arrived home and opened my TV this was on the local news. I too feel mad and nearly cried. SAD, sad, really SAD. I thought it was in Indonesia until it was mentioned Makati. Who could have done these? Yung mga inosenteng tao na walang ka malay malay nadadamay. Ano ba ang gustong palabasin ng mga taong gumagawa neto?
Prayers to those who have lost their lives and the injured. Kinikilabutan ako dito.
I need to call home. Thanks for the infos.
BORDS!! Kinilabutan ako nun marinig ko to kanina after we chatted. You know what, I was in Glorietta yesterday! I was going to blog about it nga sana kase na-traffic ako ng 2.5 hours from Cubao going to Makati via MRT. I was planning na i-move ng Friday na lang yun lakad ko sa Makati buti na lang ginawa ko sya ng Thursday! Waaaaaaaahhh! I could have been there.
Dear God, thank you for this life! Your steadfast love never ceases and your mercy never comes to an end. And may You be glorified in my life.
Natakot talaga ako bords. Naku, n-nerbyosin ang nanay ko nito pag nalaman nya.
Take care everyone!
i cried too when i watched the news tonight. glorietta is part of my mom’s everyday route. she always eats at luk yuen. last time she ate there was yesterday. the only reason she didn’t go there today was because she had an appointment elsewhere with my brother. i wouldn’t know what to do if my mom and brother were hurt in that bombing.
i can just imagine how hard it is for the families of the people who were injured and who died in this tragedy.
This happened right after I posted my entries on my blog, but I was so tired to pick up the news and I got sooo busy the whole day, I just got home and it’s now 11pm here. I am soooo sorry about this, I should know, this brings back 911 memories.
I really hope and pray this is not a terrorist act.
I was really saddened when i heard the news yesterday. Pity those innocent people killed and to several injured. Let us just continue to pray that God will take care of the victims and their families. God will do the rest to those behind this incident.
I am just hoping that justice will be given to the victims and their families.
I am sorry to read this Army. The problem of evil shows itself in a major way once again.
The world needs God’s intervention.
Russ
the 4th and 5th photos there…hmmm… i’ve seen it from a multiply site..
i think the photo credits should go to him
@Jon – Kapatid no problem. Nakaka-kaba talaga when someone you love is near the site of the accident or chaos
@Kuya K – I had the same feeling too when I saw it on the news. I’m so glad I did not go to Glorietta on that day. I was supposed to go to makati for my monthly report in my agency. Jan ako nadaan whenever I have free time pa to roam.
@Chuvaness – Sis ganun daw talaga yun. If time mo na, time mo na. Life is too short indeed. I was angry when I heard that a pregnant mother was killed in the blast
@Pao – Wow sis, The Lord intervened on your mom’s sked. Let us be thankful for that
@Reyna – they say it was a gas leak. My sister used to be an accountant in an LPG company and she said that kind of blast that happened in glorietta was not a gas explosion. A gas explosion would have rendered the restaurant into flames instead and would not toss a woman coming down from a 2nd floor escalator to the 3rd floor of the same building. I recalled saying that only magneto can repel people that violent. People doesn’t buy the PNP claim that it was a gas explosion.
@Ambo – let us indeed pray for these innocent souls that God may do justice in them
@Joan – with our kind of Government, Justice is very elusive. Yet whatever we do here on earth is accounted there in heaven.
@Russ – what you said is very true bro. God’s intervention is really needed in this kind of dilemma: like that instance in the bible when he drowned the Pharaoh’s men in the Red Sea
@Karla – hmmmI think the photos you were referring to were already bought by Inquirer because I borrowed the said photos from their site, the watermark of the newspaper’s name is embedded on the photos.. Anyhow, for courtesy’s sake I included Disney Cute in the credits as per your request. Cheers!
thanks
Anyway, I believe that credits should be given to the one who has taken the photo
karla’s last blog post..Glorietta Explosion
@karla – thanks for reminding me. appreciate it. I did not know that he was the one who took it because the name of the photographer was not on the specific photo. Anyhow I get your wisdom on this and im thankful you reminded me less i would be liable for copyright infringement. Thanks again. and Happy Sunday!
bluepanjeet’s last blog post..Welcome To My Blog
my heart goes out to the victims of the Glorietta bombing. how could senseless killing like this solve anything? i kneel down in feeble attempts at prayer to the Most High and ask for His mercy. may the souls of the victims, rest in peace.
chuva’s last blog post..Angel Locsin defends Piolo against Lolit Solis?s ?expose?
We should all be more vigilant. I am deeply hurt and saddened that innocent people have to suffer. I wrote in another friend’s blog the following and I want to share it here as well:
To quote from my own post:
“I was shaking when I saw on the news about what happened! I am deeply saddened by this unfortunate event. Who in his right mind will want people to die and suffer? I am enraged. I am hurt that innocent people have to go through such pain!
I am so affected because I used to work in nearby 6750. We were practically in Glorietta, SM, Landmark and Greenbelt everyday.
More than that, I can heave a sigh of relief for myself because – I am supposed to be in Glorietta early today.”
Glorietta 2 Blast – Uneasy feeling last night”
Tama ka,?.mga duwag lang ang pwedeng gumawa nito! Magpapasko pa naman?.=(
I am slowly getting tired of this government?.and those sicko people na walang ibang alam gawin kundi maghasik ng lagim. Nagpapakahirap tayo dito kakatrabaho, tapos eto lang mapapala natin while enjoying a few hours after work sa isang mall?!?!?
All the more na sumisidhi yung yearning ko na umalis na lang?.I know kahit san naman e may danger?.kung time mo na talaga e wala tayo magagawa?.Pero ang point is, kayod kalabaw ka na nga dito sa bansa mo, gatiting lang yung sinusweldo mo, tapos konting pag-eenjoy sa mall mahahatulan ka na masaktan or worse mamatay?!?!
kristinesendy’s last blog post..my blessings in disguise
ey – we offered a Requiem Mass for those who died from the incident…
am just tongue tied…
my heart goes out to the victims. as of this writing, eleven people have been declared dead with two more on the critical list. according to news reports scores are injured numbering about 70 to 80 people. innocent people just going about their daily routine, earning an honest living as mall workers, shopping for bargains in glorietta?s weekend sale. millions have been lost and many lives will be affected, specially daily wage earners in glorietta and nearby establishments who will lose their all-important subsistence.
I just don’t know what to say anymore.
my prayers go out to the innocent victims and their families.
thess’s last blog post..when no one cares
Please update the link to my blog entry entitled “Raw video taken…” that’s in your list of related blog entries. It should now point to:
http://tonyocruz.com/?p=298
Many thanks!
tonyo’s last blog post..The lowest depths of political opportunism
@Chuva -ang lalim kapatid
bluepanjeet’s last blog post..Welcome To My Blog
“I am slowly getting tired of this government?.and those sicko people na walang ibang alam gawin kundi maghasik ng lagim. Nagpapakahirap tayo dito kakatrabaho, tapos eto lang mapapala natin while enjoying a few hours after work sa isang mall”
This is so true tinz. That was also my reason why I became angry. the victims are just unwinding from their daily burdens. It’s impossible that it was a gas combustion. why are there no flames? I’m with you in this righteous anger. You know I don’t feel safe anymore in Manila. It’s worse than Martial law. May kalayaan nga tayo pumunta kahit saan, puro bomba naman… san ka pa?
bluepanjeet’s last blog post..Welcome To My Blog
@Dominador – Thanks for the prayersbro. The victims really need prayers. Include also the souls of the “perpe-trators,“that their soul might not burn in hell.
bluepanjeet’s last blog post..Welcome To My Blog
@Monaco – good point bro. I also heard that there was a child victim? is that true.. i hope it isn’t because I will have new anger and madness for this stupes!
bluepanjeet’s last blog post..Welcome To My Blog
@Thess – pareho tayo. sometimes I’m speechless especially when it comes to tragic deaths… i’m so exhausted from our politics… tayo nagiging biktima.
bluepanjeet’s last blog post..Welcome To My Blog
@Tonyo – duly noted bro! updated already.
bluepanjeet’s last blog post..Welcome To My Blog